Sorry
by Just Mila
Summary: Fuyumi apologises to Shouto.


Fuyumi walked alongside her youngest brother, happy to walk him home on her day off, even though he had told her she didn't need to.

The Shouto from a year ago would have told her it was unnecessary and turned her down. But he had changed so much in the past few months, he only softly requested that she not go out of her way too much and even waited for her when she was late.

In the span of only one term at U.A., he had changed for the better so much; he had come so far, he had made friends and strengthened his resolve and started to _heal_ and she was so, so proud of him. There weren't words to describe how proud Fuyumi felt about Shouto healing. Him and Mom both.

But, there was one thing that had been eating away at her, ever since she was called out on it a few days back. It was revolting — both her actions and the fact that she had been blind to them — and Fuyumi regretted so much, maybe too much. The least she could do was apologise.

"I'm sorry, you know." Fuyumi said, her voice firm but full of regret.

Shouto paused, and didn't say anything for a while.

"What for?" he asked finally, unable to determine what Fuyumi was apologising for.

Fuyumi smiled sadly and clutched the straps of her bag tighter. There were so many answers. For not standing up to Dad alongside Mom. For letting Shouto and his brothers grow too far apart. For not giving him the assurance Mom used to. For not doing, much of anything really. For so much. But there was only one reason that stuck out.

"For not being there for you enough."

There was so much more Fuyumi could have done for her little brother. She too was her mother's daughter, so where was her courage against Endeavor? She was Shouto's sister, so where was her love and support for him? In all her years, the only things Fuyumi had done were regularly visit Mom and offer to go with Shouto when he went to see her. She hadn't done anything else for him. She had never been there, not nearly enough.

"What do you mean?"

Fuyumi opened her mouth to clarify but he carried on.

"You did so much." he started and Fuyumi looked at him. "I know people say that you didn't do anything, that you're a bad sister, but—"

He stopped walking, and Fuyumi did too.

"He's still the number two hero; there's not much anyone can do against him. Mom stood up to him and, well, you know."

She did. Having visited her regularly since she'd been gone, Fuyumi knew all too well.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for. Even I wasn't much good against him." Shouto clenched his fist and looked away and Fuyumi _knew_ he was thinking about his match against Midoriya: when he'd reminded Shouto of such a simple little thing he'd forgotten. Something they'd all forgotten.

"But you were always there." He looked back at her. "Before Mom was gone, after she was gone, when she was going, through elementary school, through middle school, every day, without fail. Mom was made to go, and our brothers won't even look at me anymore but, you were always there and, it helped a lot."

"Really?" Fuyumi's voice was so soft and so small even Fuyumi wasn't sure she heard it. She blinked sharply, in an attempt to stop tearing up.

Shouto recalled every smile Fuyumi had given him, every breakfast she had shared with him, every packed lunch she had made him, every casual conversation she'd ever had with him, every birthday gift she had snuck around Endeavor to give him, every time she had picked him up and dropped him off to school, everything she had ever done for him. And he knew they were wrong, the people who said she wasn't a good sister, just because she didn't stand up to a man who was the number two hero. But Fuyumi had done for him all the things that were so much more important than protecting him from Endeavor.

She had stayed with him, constant and unwavering. Full of the love and support he would have received if he had a normal childhood. She had given him irreplaceable memories and unconditional love and he didn't care what anyone said.

Fuyumi was all he ever had. Through everything, it was unchanging Fuyumi and her steady hand that he held on to all those years. She was the only good thing he had had in a childhood full of harsh training sessions and estranged loved ones. The only glimmer of hope in their doomed household, a pillar to lean on on the darkest of days, so why was she expected to stand up to Endeavor for him? She had done so much more than she had ever needed to.

"Of course." Shouto said, starting to walk again. "You did everything."

When he didn't see Fuyumi resume walking alongside him, he stopped and turned to her. And just as he did, Fuyumi threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

She was warm, radiating all the love and support she had ever given him. All the things she had survived and endured, just to be there for him when no one else was.

Like most of the things she had done for him, Shouto sometimes felt he didn't deserve it. But she did it anyway, stayed with him and loved him and watched over him.

Shouto lifted his arms and hugged his sister back. He buried his face in her and the two stayed like that. Holding on to each other as tight as they possibly could, in tears, so thankful for each other, so so thankful, so much more than words could show.


End file.
